(IGT) A condition, not considered a form of diabetes, diagnosed when oral glucose tolerance test results show that a person's blood glucose level falls between normal and diabetic levels. Persons with IGT have an increased risk for developing diabetes. Impaired glucose tolerance used to be called latent, chemical, or borderline diabetes but is no longer considered a form of diabetes.

A hormone that is needed to convert glucose, starches and other food into energy needed for daily life. Insulin allows cells to use glucose for fuel and is secreted by beta cells in the islets of Langerhans. The release of insulin from the pancreas is stimulated by increased blood glucose, vagal nerve stimulation, and other factors. Insulin is obtained from various animals and available in a variety of preparations. Commercial insulin preparations differ in a number of ways, including differences in the animal species from which they are obtained; their purity, concentration, and solubility; and the time of onset and duration of their biologic action. An oral hypoglycemic agent is not a form of insulin therapy.

Modern Language Association (MLA)

A hormone that helps the body use blood glucose for energy. The beta cells of the pancreas make insulin. When people with diabetes cant make enough insulin, they may have to inject it from another source.

(Insulin Injections) The method a person with diabetes learns to use for injecting exogenous insulin into the body's bloodstream. Some delivery methods are usually syringes ; miniature computerized continuous insulin pumps ; "no needle" jet injectors method where insulin is forced through the skin; insulin syringe like pocket-pens ; infusers injection access portal into subcutaneous tissues for 2-3 days; insertion is a device to accelerate needle insertion into the skin, subcutaneous infusion where a flexible teflon catheter remains beneath the skin for several days.

(Diabetic Shock or Hypoglycemic Reaction) Severe hypoglycemia produced by administration of insulin, manifested by sweating, tremor, anxiety, vertigo, and diplopia, followed by delirium, convulsions and collapse. If the blood glucose drops much below 70 mg/dl the person may go into insulin shock very rapidly. After unusual exercise, or after missing a meal, a person may have more insulin available than is needed to metabolize their glucose supply at that moment and the blood glucose drops and the person may suddenly get very jittery, or may lose consciousness. Often there is enough warning so that a person may eat a piece of candy to raise their blood glucose level. Hypoglycemic reactions can occur in some persons with no history of diabetes.

A condition in which the body does not respond to insulin properly. This is most common in Type II diabetes or associated with obesity, ketoacidosis, infection, and certain rare conditions. Diminished effectiveness of insulin in lowering blood glucose levels requiring 200 units or more of insulin per day to prevent hyperglycemia or ketosis.

See Insulin Delivery. The two types of insulin therapy (1) conventional or (2) intensive starts when the body stops making insulin or makes only a tiny amount, without insulin a person with diabetes could not survive. Insulin is injected under the skin (in the fat) for it to work. Insulin cannot be taken in a pill or tablet since stomach fluids in the digestive system would destroy the hormone before the body can put it to use. It controls blood glucose levels. There is no cure for diabetes, but can be controlled by insulin injections (exogenous insulin), self monitoring of blood glucose, pancreas and islet cell transplants, oral hypoglycemic agents, or diet and exercise. If untreated can cause heart and kidney disease, blindness, problems in pregnancy or childbirth, nerve and blood vessel damage, and can reduce the ability to fight against infection.

Cellular masses varying from a few to hundreds of cells lying in the interstitial tissue of the pancreas; they are composed of different cell types which comprise the endocrine portion of the pancreas and are the source of insulin and glucagon.